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Russia has been banned from major international sporting events for four years after being found guilty of manipulating laboratory doping data.<\/p>\nRussia has been banned from major international sporting events for four years after being found guilty of manipulating laboratory doping data.<\/p>\n
The World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed the punishment in Lausanne after considering recommendations from its independent compliance review committee (CRC).<\/p>\n
The judgement means Russia will be banned from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n
Individual Russian athletes untainted by the scandal will able to compete independently under a neutral flag.<\/p>\n
WADA said the decision was unanimous, but Russia\u2019s Anti Doping Agency (RUSADA) has 21 days to appeal against the ban.<\/p>\n
If it does so, the appeal will be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).<\/p>\n
However, Russia will be able to compete at Euro 2020 next summer, which it has qualified for and is a tournament host with games due to be played at St Petersburg.<\/p>\n
European football\u2019s governing body does not fall under the definition of a Major Events Organisation under the international compliance code.<\/p>\n
The CRC made its recommendations based on evidence presented to it by WADA\u2019s intelligence and investigations (I&I) team.<\/p>\n
The I&I team found there were inconsistencies in data handed over to WADA in January 2019 by Russia under the terms of its reinstatement to compliance in September 2018.<\/p>\n
The data provided was inconsistent with a copy of the database supplied to WADA by a whistleblower in 2017, in that positive findings present in 2017 were missing from the 2019 data.<\/p>\n
The I&I team found that some of the manipulation and deletion had occurred as recently as December 2018 and January 2019 \u2013 after reinstatement.<\/p>\n
Russia has been banned from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015 when it was first declared non-compliant.<\/p>\n